December 7/09 11:33 am - Canadian Track Team Arrives in Colombia

Posted by Editoress on 12/7/09

The Canadian Track Team had an eventful trip to Cali, Colombia where they are preparing for the third World Cup Dec. 10-12. Monique Sullivan and Mark MacDonald narrowly missed a blizzard in Calgary on their way to Houston only to be delayed by snow in the Texan city. "After many spring trips to 100 degree weather in Houston it was quite a shock," for Monique Sullivan and the city who hasn't seen snow in 37 years. The delay led to an eventful night in Panama and an early flight to Cali the next morning.

The rest of the team flew through Miami, where they were to have a direct flight to Cali, but a medical emergency forced the plane to stop in Jamaica which, according to Laura Brown (BC) has sparked a debate as to whether or not being at the airport counts as having been to Jamaica.

The team got on track Dec. 5 to spin out the legs after a long day of travel and to practice riding a Velodrome with squished bugs. Tim Sherstobitoff (BC), who is attending his first World Cup, commented that "it takes a little while to get used to a different track, how tight the corners are and little bumps here and there…the craziest part so far has been the taxi rides. The first day was in busy traffic and our driver just lays on the horn and bombs wherever he wants."

The second day of practice had lower adrenaline levels on the way to the track as the traffic is less intense on Sundays and the team put in some good motor pacing work for the endurance riders, working the aerobic system and getting their legs spinning. Jacob Schwingboth, who finished 13th in the Melbourne World Cup Scratch race a few weeks ago, warmed up in his 17 tooth cog and reportedly made it to 164 rpm. They also did some team pursuit efforts and Tara Whitten (AB) felt "lucky yesterday and today to have the track and motor bike to ourselves, giving us the opportunity to really get a feel for the track before the official training sessions begin. Everyone is excited about the challenges and opportunities in the week ahead."

Most of the countries competing in the World Cup have arrived and official training times start today with racing getting under way Dec. 10.